Jonti: Artist You Should Know

Imagine* if you will a family dining room in a home in Mt. Washington. It is dinnertime on a weeknight. Seated at the table are most of the artists on the Stones Throw label.

Madlib sits high on a stack of dusty records at one end of the table tooling around with vintage cigarette roller and Gary Wilson at the other end is talking to a sock puppet of himself on his right hand. The neon green pot roast sits in the middle of the table glowing and making a humming sound and Peanut Butter Wolf brings out the last dish, a piping hot bowl of his secret peanut butter mashed potatoes. Dinner is served…but the seat between James Pants and Koushik is still empty.

As he pulls off his apron and tosses it aside, Wolf calls out, “Jonti! Dinner’s getting cold!” Sprinting down the stairs, ukelele and Akai sampler in hand, Jonti (Danimals) jumps into the empty seat. James Pants puts down his Book of Revelations (with hidden SI Swimsuit issue inside) and extends his hands to lead everyone in a short pre-dinner grace. “Thank you, Universe, for bringing little brother Jonti to our family of psychedelic beat freaks. Thank you for his multi-instrumentalist pop sensibilities, and his acute ability to create music that sounds like dusty 60s lost grooves with a skittering tropicalia beat. Thank you for his recording experiences with Mark Ronson, Santigold, and others, and his brand new full-length release, Twirligig. Also thanks for his spectacularly left of center sense of humor. Thank you Universe.”

Vex Ruffin jumps on the last syllable of the prayer and grabs a fistful of peas, tosses them back like popcorn and exclaims, “Let’s eat!” Everyone at the table opens their eyes and smiles placidly at each other. An animated alligator in a red bikini pops it’s head out of the mashed potatoes and everyone starts laughing out loud. Freeze frame. (cue: Jonti’s Hornet’s Nest)

Jonti – Hornet’s Nest by stonesthrow

–Mario Cotto

*This is a fantasia. None of it happened except for the Jonti’s experiences and Twirligig release part. And the alligator part.